


time of year when the world falls in love

by pensgame



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge, Gen, M/M, actually, decorating William Poindexter, decorating the Haus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 19:52:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8814130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensgame/pseuds/pensgame
Summary: “Nursey,” Dex protests, trying to move an arm and realizing that he no longer has access to his limbs now that they’re wrapped in colorful Christmas lights and plugged into the wall, “when I said you could decorate the Haus, I didn’t mean you could decorate me.”Nursey only laughs again and cheerily wraps a garland around Dex’s head. “That’s what you get for falling asleep on the couch."





	

Dex does not appreciate being rudely awoken from his nap by Nursey’s loud peals of laughter. His body feels stiff and tight, like it does right after a game, and he tenses one of his legs gingerly to check for damage. His movement feels oddly limited, and he shifts his body around a bit more, testing for injury. It’s only when he opens his eyes only that he realizes he’s been turned into a kind of human Christmas tree.

Strands of lights, garlands, and tinsel adorn his body. He looks like a Christmas store exploded all over him, turning him into some kind of festive mummy.

“Nursey,” Dex protests, trying to move an arm and realizing that he no longer has access to his limbs now that they’re wrapped in colorful Christmas lights and plugged into the wall, “when I said you could decorate the Haus, I didn’t mean you could decorate _me_.”

Nursey only laughs again and cheerily wraps a garland around Dex’s head. “That’s what you get for falling asleep on the couch.”

“How did you manage to do this”- Dex would gesture to the lights looped around his waist if he had the use of his hands- “without waking me up?”

“Deep sleeper,” says Chowder’s disembodied voice, from somewhere behind Dex’s head.

Nursey makes a noise of assent and adds, “You said you don’t like decorating, so we thought we’d bring the decorations to you.”

“We finished decorating the rest of the Haus, but we had a lot of leftover lights,” Chowder chips in, as though that makes it better.

Dex sighs.

“You make a very pretty Christmas tree,” Nursey says.

This shouldn’t make Dex blush, but it does.

Chowder suddenly appears in Dex’s periphery vision as he circles around to stand next to Nursey, smiling and saying, “Let me get Lardo so we can take a picture and remember this moment forever.”

This is sweet, so Dex decides to allow it, though he does give himself the luxury of one small, displeased grunt before conceding. After Dex gives his okay, Chowder disappears to fetch Lardo, leaving Nursey and Dex alone.

“Are you okay like that?” Nursey asks, gesturing down at the strings of lights wrapped across Dex. “I can take them off if you’re uncomfortable.”

Dex shrugs, though the motion is hampered slightly by the decorations. “It doesn’t bother me, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Nursey grins. “Can I put on Christmas music?”

Sometimes Dex feels like he’s a million years older than his teammates. Still, no reason to deny them the chance for fun just because he’s not a big fan of the holiday season. “Sure,” he says, and Nursey positively beams.

Seconds later, Nursey’s fiddling with his phone and asking, “Do you prefer Mariah Carey, Frank Sinatra, Vince Guaraldi, or Michael Bublé?”

Dex shrugs again. “I’ve never really listened to very much Christmas music, so I don’t know.”

Nursey’s eyes widen. “We’ll start with Mariah,” he says, surveying Dex with something akin to alarm. “We have to start your musical education somewhere.” Then, because he’s a decent person, he softens his expression and adds, “If you don’t like it, I swear we’ll turn it off.”

This seems fair, so Dex nods.

Chowder reappears with Lardo in tow just as the music starts. There must be something about Christmas music that drives the sanity right out of people, Dex thinks, as Lardo and Chowder - neither of whom celebrate Christmas- hear the music and immediately exclaim with delight. Come to think of it, Nursey isn’t Christian either, but he’s singing along just the same.

The room quickly fills with their singing: Nursey is terrible, Chowder rather good, and Lardo so over-the-top enthusiastic that it’s hard to really judge either way. Nursey accompanies his off-key singing with horrendous dancing that he absolutely has to be doing on purpose. Chowder and Lardo link arms and start a two-person kickline.

Dex has weird friends, but he loves them. He appreciates that they haven’t asked him to join in and are allowing him to sit here quietly and observe; they’re certainly obnoxious, but they’re never pushy - though in all fairness, this might be because he’s wrapped up in a ridiculous amount of lights and garlands and can’t move easily.  

After the first song ends, Lardo looks down at Dex fondly and says, “You’re a beautiful tree. If only we’d gotten you a star.”

The three of them look down at Dex, deep in concentration, and they’re _definitely_ imagining what he’d look like with a star glued to the top of his head.

“Absolutely not,” Dex says quickly.

His friends are obnoxious _and_ pushy, it turns out, because Lardo ignores his protests and dashes out of the room, returning minutes later with a clearly-handmade headband with a paper star attached to the top.

“Wow, Lardo,” Chowder says reverently, taking the headband from her and turning it over in his hands. “This is _perfect_.”

Nursey, who’d been absently following Chowder’s words but mostly just dancing badly in a corner, now crosses over to examine the headband. “This is amazing,” he says, accompanying the statement with a shimmy as though that helps to support his argument. “Lardo, you’re a genius.”

Lardo takes a little bow and transitions into something that might just be a poorly-executed square dance. Chowder joins her. They’re ridiculous, all of them, and Dex loves them deeply. As he watches the three of them circle around him, laughing and singing and dancing, something warm fills his chest. There’s something delightfully domestic and happy about it all, about reclining on a couch and watching while his teammates- his friends- fill the house with warmth and decorations and singing.

“I’ll wear the headband,” he says, after the fifth song has finished and Nursey has stopped dramatically serenading the room. Lardo and Chowder are in the middle of something that appears to be the tango. They all look up, so Dex repeats his statement, saying it to all of them, but looking only at Nursey.

Nursey beams.

Dex allows Chowder to slip the headband into his hair. Lardo and Nursey each slip an arm around Dex and help pull him to his feet, then position him in the corner, as though he truly is a Christmas tree and not a lanky kid covered in colorful lights. Lardo does something complicated with her fancy camera and sets it on a tripod, then races over to stand by the rest of them.

“Now kids, smile nicely so we can put this family photo on our Christmas card,” Lardo says, in her best mom-voice, as she, Nursey, and Chowder pose in front of Dex.

Dex snorts. They’re not a family, not really, and there isn’t snow outside and they don’t have a fireplace, but as the camera flashes and takes a picture of the four of them squished together, he thinks he understands the warm feeling inside that the Christmas songs are talking about.

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a lil quick oneshot for the 12 days of Christmas challenge, though I took this as an excuse to turn Dex into a Christmas tree, so idk if I can really say this accurately filled the prompt. 
> 
> My family is Buddhist, but despite not being Christian, we get really into the Christmas spirit and love decorating and singing Christmas carols - that's what I imagine Lardo, Chowder, and Nursey are like here too.
> 
> I'm on tumblr @pensgame.


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